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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Fulfillment

How
many warnings must fall on deaf ears before even God Himself is accused of
crying wolf? How many unheeded messages and messengers, how many unheeded
dreams, how many unheeded prophecies, how many unheeded calls to prepare and
sanctify ourselves before even we must admit that God has been more than
gracious, and merciful and patient with us?

How
long before we, ourselves, begin to cry out for judgment rather than mercy?

Although
‘what’s the Lord saying’ is by far
the most popular question I get in my correspondence, whenever things begin to
heat up and we begin to see more pieces falling into place, a quiet hum becomes
a roar, and I have to wade through e-mail after e-mail asking the same question
over and over.

I
understand the need or desire to want to know what the Lord is saying, but the
Lord has been saying many things, for many years, all of which have gone wholly
unheeded.

‘Humble
yourselves, repent, turn from your wickedness, and pray!’

‘Yeah,
we don’t want to do that, so, what else is the Lord saying?’

‘Prepare yourselves,
sanctify yourselves, and steel yourselves for what is to come.’

‘I
think we’ll pass on that one too…just tell us what’s going to happen and be
specific.’

God
has spoken, and He is still speaking, but He is not saying the things the church
wants to hear, so the church has chosen to ignore Him altogether.

Even
when He is specific, even when God in His love and mercy outlines everything
that will unfold, if it doesn’t happen within a hair’s breadth of being
uttered, well, then it must have been a false prophecy. We want the quick
turnaround. Utter today, fulfill tomorrow, ask no more of us than what we’re
already doing for the Kingdom, and we can all go about our business. Never mind
the fact that God warns far enough in advance to give people time to repent. Never
mind the fact that most true revelation is uttered far enough in advance as to
be deemed improbable if not outright impossible at the time it is put forth. We
took the initiative and changed the rules on God, and He’d better adhere to our
new parameters, otherwise we’ll throw a hissy fit like the spoiled children we
are.

So
what is the Lord saying? There is one resounding message that the Lord is
speaking today. It is clear, perhaps clearer than any other message I’ve
received in recent years, and that message is fulfillment.

One
word, but it encompasses everything we need to know concerning the season into
which have entered. Fulfillment! Of what, you might ask? Of everything God has
said is coming, of everything the Word of God forewarned us will take place in
the latter days, and all the optimism and platitudes and wishful thinking and
positive attitude in the world will not spare the unprepared from the horrors
that are on the horizon.

Even
those speaking messages of warning got caught up in thinking they had more
time, that the things they had been shown were something afar off, perhaps ordained
to take place after they would have passed from this life to the next, but we
are seeing it is not so. The time is not afar off, the time is now, and if we are
not in Christ, if He is not our anchor, our rock, our foundation, our refuge,
our hope, our peace, our strength, our provision, and our joy, we have no one
to blame but ourselves.

6 comments:

So true. While no one knows the hour, it is so important that we live our lives in a continual state of spiritual preparation. The world continues to grow more sinful and perverse, and only those who are spiritually prepared will be able to stand against it.

Thanks Mike for your faithfulness to the Lord. I don't write much in the way of comments, but I do read and share your posts. They are much appreciated. Hopefully I can get you and Geno back to Village Bible someday.

The audio of you that I posted of your sermon on Youtube is getting many hits and comments. It's a great sermon to still listen to.